MADRID, Nov. 30, 2019–Dorothee Schnedier and Sammy Davis Jr. won the Madrid Horse Week World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle Saturday in their campaign to earn a start at the Final in Las Vegas in April.

Dorothee and the 13-year-old Bavarian gelding scored 82.295% in only the second qualifier for the German World Equestrian Games gold medal team combination. The only previous annual world championship for Dorothee was at Paris in 2017, also on Sammy Davis.

Spain’s Claudio Castilla Ruiz on Alcaide, a 14-year-old Lusitano stallion, posted a personal best to place second on 80.230%, the pair’s first result of at least 80%. The suo that competed at the 2016 Olympics, 2018 World Equestrian Games and the 2017 and 2019 European Championships, is the top ranked Spanish combination at No. 34 in the world.

Hans Peter Minderhoud of the Netherlands on Glock’s Zanardi was third on 78.350% to jump to the top of the Western European League standings. Hans Peter, the 2016 World Cup champion on Glock’s Flirt, is seeking to go to his eighth Final.

Morgan Barbancon and Sir Donnerhall II also posted a personal best 77.920% for fourth place as the rider seeks to go to her fourth Final and second in Las Vegas. This was the first CDI in Spain for Morgan and Sir Donnerhall, 13-year-old Oldenburg stallion, since switching to ride for France after the pair’s appearance at the World Cup Final under the Spanish flag. She competed Bolero here in 2018.

This was the fourth of 11 qualifiers in the Western European League with the next scheduled for Salzburg, Austria next week.